


Of Nightmares and Comfort

by FateHerself



Category: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Couch Cuddles, Fluff, Good Boyfriend Magnus Bane, Hurt Alec Lightwood, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:46:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FateHerself/pseuds/FateHerself
Summary: Alec comes home wounded from a mission. Both, he and Magnus, are looking for comfort in each other, and when Alec has a nightmare, Magnus is there for him.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 3
Kudos: 184





	Of Nightmares and Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!  
> This is my first fanfic in this fandom, or at least the first I published. I have a bunch of them on my computer, but most of them are unfinished so...
> 
> Well, anyways!  
> Enjoy!

Magnus scanned the pages of the book he was holding. He had a client tomorrow and the potion she wanted was relatively difficult to make, so he wanted to check the ingredients again. Usually, he didn't like this part of potion-making at all. The practical part was one of his favorite things to do. Reading, however, was absolutely boring when you didn't feel like it. But the warlock didn't complain. How could he, when he was just feeling so well, with Alec wrapped around him, fast asleep?

They were both lying on the couch, Magnus on his back and Alec on top of him, his face pressed into the crook of Magnus' neck. The Warlock noticed again that his boyfriend was actually an octopus. While one of Alec’s hands was on Magnus’ side, the other was across his chest and their legs were tangled together. If Jace and Izzy were to see them like that, they would probably never live that down. The fact was, however, that neither Magnus nor Alec cared what the two of them would think because they felt too safe in each other's arms to be bothered.

Magnus also needed the reassurance that Alec's presence brought, he had every right to need it. His boyfriend came back from a difficult mission today, his bloody shirt was barely held together by threads and this sight alone brought another shock into Magnus' life. Even without the wound that extended over his abdomen.

Lost in thought, Magnus stroked Alec's back and felt the bandage under his hoodie.  
Alec didn't wear hoodies very often, only when he needed warmth and comfort. After Magnus had healed him, as best as he could, and put on the bandage, Alec had briefly retreated to the bedroom to get dressed again. When he returned and wore a hoodie, Magnus knew that the mission had taken a toll on his Shadowhunter. He always looked so young in hoodies, which he was, but normally, you never saw it. He always hid in them, was devoured by them.

Magnus knew better than to ask what happened, Alec would come to him when he was ready. So he just waited to see what the Shadowhunter would do. He had been standing a little helplessly in their living room, but Magnus was relieved when he joined him on the couch and cuddled up to him. He came so close as if he wanted to merge with Magnus.  
Magnus, of course, was relieved. Alec's behavior meant that he would not isolate himself. He would talk to him eventually, but at the moment he just needed the comfort that Magnus was only too happy to offer.

That was a few hours ago and they've been laying here ever since. The warlock had continued reading the book, which he had interrupted when Alec arrived.  
Absentmindedly, Magnus stroked Alec's back, his hair, his cheek, everything he could reach. That was until Alec suddenly tensed up. His hands, almost completely devoured by the long sleeves of the hoodie, reached for Magnus and gripped his shirt.  
Magnus' hand stopped and his attention shifted from his book to the Shadowhunter. He waited a few seconds to see if Alec would calm down again, but only a few seconds later he pressed himself even closer to the Warlock, a soft whimper leaving his lips. So soft that Magnus barely heard it.  
Magnus looked down at him sadly. Leave it to Alec to suffer as silently as possible.

At the beginning of their relationship, that was a little different. Not the silent suffering, that has actually improved since they got together, but Alec's search for comfort in his boyfriend. Before Alec had spent a few nights at Magnus’s, the Warlock didn't even know for sure if Alec had nightmares. Of course, he had thought about it. The life of a Shadowhunter is anything but easy and the things Alec had to see already at a very young age were programmed to cause nightmares.

It wasn't until Alec started sleeping at Magnus’s that it became clear that sleep didn’t always come easy for him.  
It was during the fifth night where Alec slept at his boyfriend’s place when the Warlock woke up in the middle of the night due to hectic movements beside him. When Alec woke up, he apologized several times, even offered to sleep on the couch, but Magnus declined all of it.

"Alexander, I'm your boyfriend. I want to be there for you. It's my _privilege_ to be there for you, so just… let me, okay? ”

Of course, Alec's sleep problems and his tendencies not to tell Magnus about hard nights were not immediately solved by their talk, and it took a few weeks before Alec stopped apologizing each time. And it took a few months before he started looking for comfort in Magnus. At first, it was an unconscious thing. He would, like right now, press closer to Magnus to feel his warmth. Or he would move his hand or even his head across his chest, searching for a heartbeat. Magnus was relieved and even a bit complacent when he noticed that these gestures often calmed Alec down.  
Unfortunately, this was not always the case. Sometimes he woke up drenched in sweat, a scream on his lips and yes, it had taken months, but at some point, Alec had stopped apologizing and no longer simply “endured” – for the lack of a better word – the comfort Magnus offered, but voluntarily _took it_. Now, when Alec had nightmares, he was still often quiet about it, especially when Magnus didn’t notice them, but more often than not, he now cuddled himself up to Magnus of his own volition instead of just being pulled to him by his boyfriend. More often than not, he now said things like "Don’t leave" and "Can you hold me?" instead of "You can ... go if you need to. It’s okay” and “I’m fine, you don’t have to worry.”

Magnus waited a moment while Alec moved closer to try and find his heartbeat, but he couldn’t. That was always the point at which the agitation began. Now Alec's legs were also moving and his hand was tightly gripping Magnus' shirt and pulling on it.

However, before the dream could get worse, Magnus intervened.  
He stroked his hair again and whispered, "Shh, darling, it's alright. You're safe. We all are. Everything’s okay.”

Alec slowly calmed down again, stopped moving and Magnus thought he would just go on sleeping, but then he heard the soft "Magnus."

"I'm here, Alexander."

Magnus gently stroked his cheek and kissed his forehead.

"Are you okay?"

It took Alec a while to answer. He moved a little and when he found what he was looking for, he nodded slightly.

"I will be. Just ... stay? Please?”

Magnus smiled and looked down at the man with so much love in his eyes that even he felt cheesy, but he didn't care. Because that's what love is.

"I'm not going anywhere."


End file.
